'FSS chief also called it a duplicate listing'
'Must oppose to boost domestic market value'
People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo on Wednesday urged the national pension fund, the second-largest shareholder of SK hynix, to formally declare its opposition to the planned US listing of Solidigm, an SK hynix subsidiary.
Ahn made the remarks in a Facebook post, saying the Financial Supervisory Service chief had stated during a recent national audit that Solidigm's planned US listing constituted a duplicate listing. "That is the right call," he said.
He cited duplicate-listing guidelines that financial regulators introduced last July, noting that when a subsidiary pursues an overseas listing, the parent company's board must fulfill five duties — including assessing the impact on shareholders, devising shareholder protection measures, and confirming shareholder consent or conducting a shareholder approval vote.
"For SK to list Solidigm in the United States, it must follow the rules: form an independent special committee, assess the impact of the duplicate listing on shareholders, and then either confirm shareholder intent or hold a consent vote," he added.
Ahn said the national pension fund, as SK hynix's second-largest shareholder, should take an active stance against the listing. "SK Square, an intermediate holding company, is currently the largest shareholder of SK hynix with around 20 percent, while the national pension fund holds roughly 8 percent as the second-largest," he said. "To back up the FSS chief's assessment of a duplicate listing and to demonstrate President Lee Jae Myung's commitment to boosting the value of the domestic stock market, the national pension fund must declare its intention to vote against the Solidigm listing," he urged.
Ahn pointed to a past precedent involving the national pension fund, noting that it had opposed SK Innovation's physical spin-off of its battery business in 2021 on grounds of shareholder value destruction. "SK ignored that opposition and went ahead with the spin-off, only to reverse course and remerge the unit roughly three years later due to mismanagement," he said.
"Must we repeat this cruel drama for retail investors all over again?" he asked. He then criticized SK, saying a company with projected operating profit of 400 trillion won ($300 billion) "keeps playing the media game of carving off a key subsidiary."
Ahn urged the national pension fund to move beyond words and take concrete action. "Now that a determination of duplicate listing has been made, I hope the national pension fund will be the first to act on it properly," he said. "Only then will foreign capital that has fled be able to return, trusting that the market operates on transparent and fair principles."
raining@heraldcorp.com
